STDs That Show On Your Face

STIs Aren't Pleasant - Especially When They Show On Your Face

HSV-1 generally causes cold sores, but can also cause genital herpes. This means that you can catch genital herpes from having oral sex performed on you by someone with cold sores (although it’s not that common). Also, keep in mind that cold sores are not the same as canker sores. HSV-2, alternatively, only causes genital herpes. There is currently no cure for genital or oral herpes, and both conditions are prone to flare up or recur during times of stress or when the immune system is compromised. Treatment can, however, be used to control symptoms.

How it shows up on your face:
Cold sores in and around the mouth and lips can appear from kissing someone who has an HSV-1 infection (even if they are not showing symptoms) or from performing oral sex on someone with HSV-1 genital herpes (although getting cold sores this way is not as common).

Chlamydia

What is it?
Chlamydia shows up in the eyes (aka “pink eye”) and may cause blindness. It's a bacterial infection caused by the chlamydia trachomatis bacterium and is spread by all forms of sex, including oral. As many as 2.3 million Americans are thought to be infected with chlamydia. That’s about 1 in 20 for the general population. Chlamydia is, however, more common in teenage girls with estimates hitting the 10% mark. Part of the reason that chlamydia is more common in females is because symptoms are lacking in anywhere from 70% to 80% of all women. For this reason chlamydia is often called the “silent epidemic.” It is also one of the leading causes of infertility in young women. Men may also show no symptoms, although they do tend to show symptoms more often. Chlamydia can cause pain during urination, discharge from the penis/vagina, pain or inflammation in the testicles, and bleeding after sex in women. Treatment can be successfully achieved using antibiotics.

How it shows up on your face:
Aside from classic symptoms, chlamydia may also end up infecting the eye (sometimes called “pink eye” or conjunctivitis). In adults, chlamydia-related eye infections are primarily caused by sexual contact, specifically from touching the eye after touching the genitals or genital secretions of an infected individual (including you). Even direct ejaculate into the eye has been reported to cause chlamydia eye infections. Lastly, though rare, eye-to-eye transmission (e.g., from sharing mascara) has also been observed.

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Sex has and probably always will be a fairly carefree and impulsive endeavor, but that doesn’t mean it has to be unsafe. Although nobody wants to spoil the mood with a pre-coitus STD chat, a little common sense and caution can save you a lot of trouble in the end. Maybe most important to remember is this: While oral sex might not get you pregnant, it sure as heck can still give you an STD — one that might even show up on your face.